


Disenthrall

by Idfk_5064



Series: Disenthrall [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Homeless, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Death, Español | Spanish, Falling In Love, Forehead Kisses, Français | French, Gay, Grief/Mourning, Homelessness, I will update the tags as I go, M/M, Minor Character Death, Murder, OOC, Partners in Crime, Running Away, Sad, Sad England, Trains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:29:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23140234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idfk_5064/pseuds/Idfk_5064
Summary: Saddened by his brother's sudden death, Arthur decides to hop on a boat and cross over to France.There, he meets Francis, a boy with sadness rooted deep in his eyes.Money-less, homeless and with no food, they decide to explore Europe.
Relationships: (just hints of it), England/France (Hetalia), England/Spain (Hetalia)
Series: Disenthrall [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1732162
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	1. Absquatulate

**Author's Note:**

> Pretend Brexit never happened, and that Arthur can freely travel in Europe ahahaha.  
> I wrote this inspired by one of Shiey’s videos, after watching it I binge-watched a whole heap of his videos and got this idea. You should totally check out his channel, I watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF8hMhMlnmg  
> I will update the tags as the story continues, so the tags will look pretty empty, but I don’t wanna spoil anything so teehee.  
> I hope you enjoy it!!!

When the news came to Arthur, he found himself emptier than most days.

That was to be expected, because his younger brother _had just died._ He didn’t even know how, it seemed he suddenly went deaf after he heard the words “your brother, Peter had died” spill from his principals’ mouth.

His whole word blacked out, instead it filled with swirling words and odd touches in the forms of hugs and hand holding. His parents, he assumed.

You would think after learning that his 14-year-old brother had just suddenly passed away, he would’ve burst into tears and sobbed for days. Instead Arthur found himself realising something.

When he eventually found himself sitting his cold bed he cracked into his own brain and realised what he had realised before. Silly, right?

His eyes opened to the truth that; his life wasn’t his own. It was a strict life plan written out for him years upon years before he was born. Everyone around the word followed it, even someone as young as Peter had followed it. Arthur himself, had also followed it. It sounded stupid and cliché in his head, but you really did have one life, and Arthur didn’t want to spend it sulking over a life that wasn’t his own and do nothing about it. That seemed so boring, and _sad._

Instead, he would do something Peter wasn’t able to do, and break away from the cage that was his life.

Maybe it was for Peter, or for himself, but Arthur found himself hatching a plan.

****

Arthur’s plan sounded simple.

When his parents were distracted by the endless ringing of the doorbell signalling the arrival of grieving family members, Arthur snuck out the back of the house and picked up his bike, his feet pedaling the wheels to move as fast as his thoughts.

In no time he found himself at the dock.

Using the money he grabbed off the kitchen counter, he paid for a one-way ticket to France. He wasn’t thinking of ever coming back.

As soon as Arthur stepped foot on France soil, he realised a problem with the plan he spent at most 2 minutes thinking about. The problem itself was that there was no plan after he arrived at France. So instead of doing what most completely sane people would do and turn back round and return to the comfort of his bed where he could spend the whole day crying in, he willed himself forward, finding a bench to rest at and observe the docks from.

It just happened that the bench was situated outside a seemingly fancy restaurant, where people bustled in and out, the air around him never quiet.

He had been sitting for at least half an hour when he found his peaceful loneliness interrupted by another boy, looking to be around his age and even lonelier than Arthur was.

He took note of the boys clothing, noticing that it was the waiters’ uniform of the restaurant behind him. 

After sitting in silence the strange, lonely boy decided to speak.

“You’ve been out here for 2 hours now,” the waiter stated, “what are you doing?”

Arthur at first didn’t comprehend the question, instead musing over the fact that time had flown by and that it was not in fact only 30 minutes that had passed. After leaving the boy’s question hanging for far too long, he felt guilty about essentially ignoring the boy’s question and decided to answer.

“I just ran away from home.”

Now that Arthur had said that out loud, he realised how stupid it sounded, how stupid the idea of running away from his problems was. He should be at home comforting his poor mother and father. Not only had they just lost their 14-year-old son to a tragic death, but now had lost their 17-year-old to stupidity.

“Why?”

“My younger brother died.”

“Oh.”

Arthur glanced over to the boy and actually _looked_ at him.

He had shoulder length, blond hair. A shade lighter than Arthur’s own blonde hair. Unlike Arthur’s choppy, spiky hair, it was silky and looked soft to touch. He had the starting of a beard peeking through the stubble on his chin. His eyes were blue like the sky, and deep ocean, radiating a deep sadness. Arthur decided he liked the boy.

“Can I come with you?” He found the other boy asking.

Arthur thought for a moment. He didn’t really have a plan and he had never been in this country. It would be nice for some company.

“A few conditions.” Arthur said, instead. “Why, and what’s your name?”

“Francis,” the ~~boy,~~ Francis, spoke. “I want to come because I have just graduated school and have absolutely no plan and no choice. My parents forced me to work in their restaurant with no pay.”

Arthur didn’t know why Francis was telling him that much, and by the look of surprise in the sky-blue eyes, Francis didn’t know either. Arthur _did_ ask why he wanted to come, but wasn’t telling a stranger he met only a few minutes ago that his parents were basically holding him against his will to work in their restaurant necessary?

“Arthur,” he found himself saying, his mouth seemingly having a mind of its own. “I’m only 17 and don’t have a plan.”

Francis glanced up at Arthur, for the first time since he sat down at the bench.

“In fact, I’ve never been to France either.” Arthur chuckled. Francis grinned.

“I’ve always wanted to explore the rest of Europe, my parents won’t let me, so why not instead we both explore together?”

Arthur nodded, a smile slowly making a way to his face, his brother’s death finally disappearing from his mind for the first time ever. He then frowned. “I don’t have any money.”

“Neither do I.” Sighed Francis.

Perhaps their journey was over before it even started.

Suddenly, a piercing whistle from a passing train hot through the air, sending the same idea to both Francis and Arthur.

“Hey Arthur,” Francis started, grinning wickedly at the other boy, “have you ever train surfed?”

****

“So you’re saying you left all your money, clothes and phone at your house which is in England?” Francis asked in awe, most likely thinking about how stupid Arthur was. Arthur nodded in answer.

After walking aimlessly around the giant city the two boys found themselves at the train station. They were both currently sitting at the very back of the station, ready to jump on the first train they saw.

“What do you have?” Arthur asked.

In the few hours he has known Francis he learnt that Francis was only 19. He wanted to study fashion or music in university, but that idea got destroyed by his very controlling and abusive parents. He was fluent in English, Russian, French and Spanish. He seemed to be rather intelligent. Arthur had hidden the fact that he was also fluent in French, not wanting to explain to the older boy that he had learnt it to spite his brother Peter who had said Arthur was too dumb to even learn the words ‘hello.’

Remembering Peter struck Arthur with a wave of grief. Francis must’ve noticed by the look of sympathy that flashed in his eyes.

“I brought my phone, but either than that I have nothing.”

The short conversation was followed by silence.

Once again, a train’s whistle interrupted the boy’s silent thoughts. Standing up, Francis offered a hand to Arthur.  
“You ready?”

Arthur sighed as he grabbed a hold of Francis’s hand. They both stood ready, eyes on the incoming train. Luckily, it was going slow enough for the boys to easily run onto.

Suddenly Francis shot off, running next to the train, Arthur followed his lead.

Francis grabbed a hold of a handle and hoisted himself onto a wagon, turning around to help Arthur in as well.

As soon as Arthur had gotten on the train sped up, racing off.

****

“Do you have any idea on where we are?” Arthur asked as the two boys walked through a small station. After being on the train for 3 hours. If they were on a passenger train they would’ve been in Spain by now, but because they were on a freight train that stopped at every station and would slow down a lot, they were only really halfway there. Speaking of Spain, the two boys agreed on going to explore Spain first because that’s where the train was heading towards.

The train itself had stopped at a station and had been sitting there for 30 minutes or so. The boys had gotten tired and sore from sitting on the hard metal floor and decided to stretch just outside the wagon they were in.

Francis pulled his phone out, its bright screen lighting up his tired face.

“It doesn’t say where we are, but it does say that it’s currently 10:38pm.” He replied, yawning and pushing his phone back in his pocket.

At some point the sky had darkened, lighting up the night sky with beautiful stars and filling Arthur’s head with sweet memories of star gazing with his brother.

Arthur hoisted himself up on the wagon, watching Francis pop his back and stretch.

“How are we gonna get food? I’m starving.” Arthur asked, closing his eyes.

“Not sure,” Francis’s back cracked a bit as he swung his arms around, “maybe we can try and steal some food later.”

At that Arthur shot upwards.

“Steal?” He almost shrieked. “Francis, there is no way we’re doing that!”

“I never said you have to; I can do it for us.” Francis retorted.

“No,” Arthur groaned “stealing is wrong, Francis, I’m not letting you do that.”

“Well would you rather die of starvation?” Francis whisper-yelled, walking towards Arthur. ‘There is no other way to get food, we can’t beg strangers for food, and we have no money to pay for food.”

Arthur was silent.

After a moment’s hesitation, Arthur sighed.

“I-I guess.” He mumbled. “But only what we need.”

Francis, happy that Arthur agreed, nodded back and quickly hugged the smaller, younger boy, surprising Arthur.

Underneath Arthur the train launched to life, vibrating as the wheels started to turn. Francis jumped into the open wagon next to Arthur as the train sped up, gaining full speed.

Once again, Arthur felt his eyes be lifted towards the stars. Somewhere in England his family was underneath them as well, probably sad about both Peter and Arthur.

Francis wrapped an arm around Arthur, a strange sense of being protected warmed Arthur.

“I always wanted a younger brother.” Francis whispered, Arthur not sure if that was aimed to him or not, stayed silent.

Now both of the boys were gazing at the stars.

It was easy to forget his life, looking up at the stars sitting next to his new friend. The stars drew him away from the sadness that was caused by his brother’s sudden death, instead only allowing him to focus on the good memories that he and Peter shared many years ago under the same sky. He wondered what his family was doing. What his 3 older brothers were doing at home. Were they gazing at the same stars as him, unknowing of what the now youngest child of the Kirkland family was doing? Not knowing he was currently on a train to Spain?

Random thoughts of nothingness filtered through Arthur’s mind, slowly lulling him to sleep.

“Absquatulate,” Arthur murmured to the stars, “to leave without saying goodbye.”


	2. Acatalepsy

Arthur awoke to Francis’s snoring and the sun gleaming in his eyes.

He didn’t know how long they were asleep, but the sun was just starting to arise. Around him, he also noticed that there were more buildings.

Surprisingly, they were still not in Spain despite travelling for the whole night.

_Just how many times did it stop last night?_ Arthur thought, and more importantly, _how were we not caught?_

They were 2 teenage boys, sitting in an open wagon, right in front of the open door. Surely a worker must’ve spotted them at least once during the night.

“Francis, wake up.” Arthur demanded, grabbing a hold of the older boy’s arm and shaking it violently.

“ _Mon Dieu!_ What do you want Arthur?”

“Where are we?”

Francis took a glimpse of the moving scenery, taking note of the style of the building’s and taking a peek of his phone, he seemed to come to conclusion.

“I believe we are just about to enter Spain.”

Arthur sighed in relief.

“Finally,” Arthur stretched his arms high above his head, “it’s surprising I didn’t break my back sleeping on this metal floor and the extreme rattling of the wagon.”

Francis let out a light laugh.

The two boys stopped talking in exchange to take in the changing scenery. By the looks of it, they were passing by a small town, with the small houses and shops Arthur was able to see.

“Hey Arthur,” Francis began, “just as we went to sleep, you said something?”

Realising Francis was talking about ‘absquatulate’ Arthur smiled.

“It’s nothing,” he stated as they passed the final house. “Back home my little brother loved me telling him new words, so I taught myself some to teach him.”

When he looked in Francis’s direction, he saw Francis looking at him deeply. A light blush coloured Arthur’s cheek and he quickly gazed back at the moving images of the changing environment.

****

After only 30 or so minutes of going past the small town the pair found themselves surrounded by more and more buildings.

Based on the direction the train was going, Francis declared they were probably heading towards a town called Jaca.

At one-point Arthur questioned how Francis knew this, with Francis replying that when he attended school, he loved learning about Geography and Europe.

Proving Francis correct, the arrived in Jaca at early morning, just a few hours after both boys had awoken.

As soon as the train slowed down to a walking speed, Arthur and Francis leapt off and ran towards the forest. The fortunate part of being on a freight train was that the train wouldn’t go the passenger route and that they could easily hide in the forest.

After giggling and joking about their success of illegally travelling from France to Spain by train, the two boys decided to walk around the town.

When most people were out walking and doing their daily business Arthur found his stomach roaring with hunger, much to his embarrassment. Francis dragged him towards a small corner store, where he hatched a plan.

“If I’m correct, there will probably only be one person working in the store, if we’re lucky it will be a tired teenager,” Francis spoke in hushed tones, “you will distract them, saying you’re a tourist and that you’re lost, while I go and grab the things we need.”

Arthur gulped. Not only had he agreed with Francis to steal, but he was also going to help. Arthur shakily nodded.

“Okay, we’ll go in separately, you go first and start talking to the cashier. When you’re ready go into the store, I’ll come in after.”

Dragging a deep inhale into his lungs, Arthur nodded again and began walking towards the store they had been now talking about for 15 minutes.

****

He stepped into the shop, the cold air from the air conditioner unknowingly relaxing him, a nice contrast from the heat outside.

He hesitantly walked towards the register, noticing what looked like a boy napping.

“U-um,” Arthur stuttered. The napping boy shot up.

Arthur momentarily forgot the plan, taken aback by this boys’ eyes. A shade similar to Arthur’s own emerald eyes stared back, the differences being that the tanned boy’s eyes seemed fuller of life.

“Si?” The green-eyed boy’s voice sounded so _beautiful._ It was raspy from sleep, and deep, sending shivers down Arthur’s back.

Realising he had been staring at the boy he berated himself in his brain.

“I’m a tourist, I-I just get here from a t-train.” Arthur explained, kicking himself mentally after every stutter. The boy that was staring at him in confusion was probably thinking he was he stupidest stupid to ever walk the Earth.

Suddenly he grinned, showing off his perfect white teeth, almost causing Arthur to faint.

“I’m guessing your lost?” Arthur nodded, a bell ringing behind him signalled that Francis had entered the shop.

He was about to try and make small conversation when the boy beat him to it.

“What’s your name?” He asked, much more awake, “you seem too young to be travelling by yourself.”

“Like you can say anything,” he mumbled, not being able to stop it before it exited his mouth. The handsome boy let out a loud laugh.

“I’m only 18, a legal adult.”

“Oh,” Arthur was taken aback, this boy looked at least 19 or even 20. “I’m 17.”

“Are you gonna answer my other question?”

Arthur froze, trying to remember the question, before his one working braincell actually decided to work and pulled the boy’s forgotten question to the front of his brain.

“I’m Arthur.”

“Hello Arthur, nice to meet you.” The boy’s green eyes gleamed. “I’m Antonio.”

Arthur smiled. He felt a bit bad about robbing from this guys store and never seeing him again. Maybe in another life both boys would have met in different conditions and possibly be friends. Arthur secretly wished in the other life they were at least something a bit more than friends.

“Say Arthur,” Antonio leaned close, Arthur’s heart rate picking up. “Is that your friend who just left with a whole heap of unpaid items?”

Arthur’s face drained of blood, shocked that Antonio had even been paying attention to Francis.

“We just ran away, we have no food, I’m so sorry- “

“Ran away?” Antonio asked, interrupting Arthur’s rant.

“Y-yes, I ran from England and he came from France.” Arthur really wished he would stop talking.

“And you’re only 17?”

“He’s 19.” God, at this point Arthur needs a mouth filter.

Antonio smiled.

“Arthur,” he began. Arthur found himself falling in love with the way Antonio said his name. “If you allow me to tag along, I just might not tell anyone and even help carry some stuff.”

Arthur found himself agreeing even before the question fully registered in his brain.

****

Francis looked ready for murder him when Arthur returned to their forest hideout with Antonio in tow.

“Arthur, talk, right now.” Francis breathed out, tone raised in anger. Not wanting Antonio to hear what they were talking about, Arthur decided to make it known to Francis the small fact he was fluent in French.

“ _He caught you, to make sure he wouldn’t get us in trouble I agreed to let him tag along.”_

Francis’s eyebrows shot up in surprise with the fluency of Arthur’s words in his home language.

“Please don’t tell me I’m with two French speaking frogs.” Antonio grumbled. Francis’s face lit up red with anger.

“Frogs?!” He screamed, the birds resting in the trees around them took flight.

“Si, it’s what we call the French in my town.”

Arthur found himself giggling, making Francis’s eyes shoot towards him.

_“I’m not letting this stupid, high school dropout come with us,”_ he snarled.

_“You don’t even know if he’s a high school dropout.”_ Arthur argued back, _“plus, it’s mean to leave him here after he helped to get more supplies for us.”_

“ _First,”_ Francis started, “ _he is a high school dropout because why else would he be working in a corner story at 12:33pm on a Wednesday when he looks 18?”_

“Good point.” Arthur mumbled in English.

“ _Also, we don’t owe him anything. It’s not our fault he decided to impulsively help a random kid and then follow him to a random country.”_

Before Arthur could reply, Francis started again, this time directed to Antonio in a language he vaguely recognised as Spanish.

_“Tú no vienes,”_ he spoke loudly, no room for arguments and grabbed a hold of the bags of food on the ground.

_“¿Quién se escapó primero?”_ Antonio asked. _“Supongo que lo hizo,”_ nodding in Arthur’s direction, _“porque no habría forma de que lo hubieras dejado ir contigo.”_

Francis looked angrier. Antonio continued.

_“¿por qué te dejaría ir?”_ He questioned. _“¿Por qué no me dejas ir?”_

_“Porque no tienes razón para seguir a dos extraños que han decidido huir juntos_.” Francis argued back.

Antonio sighed.

_“No tengo otra opción en la vida. Dejé la escuela para ayudar a mi madre enferma, quien falleció hace unos meses. Este es mi último deseo.”_ Antonio explained.

Francis went silent.

_“¿Feliz ahora?”_ Antonio questioned.

Arthur could tell from the tone of Antonio’s voice that he had just said something serious. He didn’t understand a word of Spanish and was reduced to watching, until Francis finally turned to him, speaking in French.

_“He can come.”_

Arthur had no time to question Francis what they had just discussed, with Francis hurriedly walking past Arthur towards the train tracks.

Antonio smiled sadly towards Arthur.

“Where are you two going now?”

Arthur shrugged.

“Well, depending on the next train we catch, anywhere.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

****

The boys had been sitting for an hour by now, growing impatient with the lack of trains going past. Antonio had explained that because the town they were in wasn’t the biggest not many trains passed by.

Arthur had thought they would get lucky and that a train would go past sooner or later, but after sitting on the uncomfortable rocks near the train tracks he realised he was very wrong.

Surprisingly, Francis and Antonio spoke a lot, sometimes in Spanish from time to time, but mainly English. Arthur couldn’t be bothered questioning how Francis seemed to be fluent in Spanish.

Because Arthur made no effort in the small talk offered by Francis and Antonio he instead dove deep into random thoughts. Thinking about his family and the universe itself.

“Acatalepsy.” Arthur mumbled to no one. Antonio’s ears perked up.

“What does that mean?” Antonio asked, turning his head to focus on Arthur.

“Oh,” Arthur hadn’t realised he had said that outload, the word just making its way out unconsciously. “It means the impossibility of understanding the universe,” he glanced over to Antonio, the green eyes learned an emotion Arthur couldn’t recognise, “the belief that human knowledge will never be of true certainty.”

“Wow,” Antonio whispered in awe, “pretty deep.”

Arthur grinned at the amazed look on Antonio’s face.

“I suppose it is.”

“How do you even know what that word means?”

Arthur hummed to himself, a bittersweet memory finding itself lodged in his brain.

“One day I came home with a new word and told my younger brother, Peter,” at the mention of that name tears blurred in Arthurs eyes, “he loved learning new words so I would go to my teacher and ask for uncommon words to teach Peter later.”

Antonio and Francis seemed to take notice of Arthur’s sadness, with Francis recognising the name. Antonio seemed to understand by the pure sadness dripping from Arthur’s voice.

“What was he like?” He asked hesitantly.

“Annoying,” Arthur chuckled a wet laugh, tears finally falling down his cheeks. He rubbed at them. “So smart as well, he was the youngest out of 5 boys’ so he taught himself things so he could stand out from the rest of us. He would get annoyed whenever we tried helping him with his homework.”

Arthur got lost in the memory.

It had been Peter’s first day at high school at the ripe age of 13. He had piles of homework despite it only being the first day. Arthur and his older brother, Connor who was 17 at the time, had offered to help, only to have Peter refusing saying he was perfectly capable of finishing it all.

He also remembered when Peter came home, proudly waving around his test that had in large, red letters A+.

Arthur was brought back to reality with the arm of Antonio wrapping around his shoulders. Arthur leant his head against the warm body of Antonio and silently let more tears fall from his eyes.

****

After sitting in silence for half an hour a loud whistle alarmed the boys that a train was about to pass by. They all sprung to their feet ready to run onto the train, only to have a loud angry voice shout out “Oi!” to them.

Panicked, they all decided to run in the opposite direction of which the train was going, only to simultaneously realise they were heading _towards_ the voice. Before Arthur could shout at the others to turn around, he ran into a hard, solid chest, knocking him down onto the ground.

Francis and Antonio stopped as an albino boy that looked around the age of 16 to 17 offered Arthur a hand to stand up with.

“I was going to tell you to back away from the train, it’s too slow to get on” the boy said in a distinctive German accent. “You guys train surfing?” He asked grinning.

“What’s it to you?” Francis asked, standing next to Arthur, protective.

“I work for the train company.” The white-haired boy asked.

“You look much too young to work for a train company.” Antonio pointed out. The white-haired boy pointed to the train uniform he was wearing.

“Let me come with you, or I will tell my boss there’s a group of teenagers illegally train surfing.”

“Oh, so you’re blackmailing us?” Arthur finally spoke up, angry. The boy smiled.

“Basically.”

Francis groaned and glared at the boy.

“Well, if you’re coming, we need to know your name.”

Antonio and Arthur shot a look of disbelief towards Francis.

“Gilbert.” The now named boy answered.

_“You had a problem with Antonio coming, but no problem with this punk coming?”_ Arthur accused in French.

_“This ‘punk’ is blackmailing us, I do not want to return to my parents.”_

Arthur rolled his eyes but nodded towards Gilbert. Said boy grinned.

“You guys look suspicious sitting out here, so maybe walk around. The next train comes in about 2 hours.” Gilbert told them, “my shift is ending in an hour, so I’ll continue working, collect my pay, get changed and meet you guys n the alleyway next to the station.”

The three boys nodded.

****

Arthur was bored. It was much better than sitting in the hot sun next to the railway, but he found sitting in a dark alley wall was extremely boring. It also didn’t help that the sun was now setting, _fast._

Gilbert was meant to meet them here 15 minutes ago, according to Francis’s phone, but was late. Anxiety was stuck in Arthur’s chest with the thought of missing the train out of there.

Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed a hold of Arthur, pulling him to stand up and reaching a hand over his mouth, meaning no noise could alert the sleeping Francis and Antonio. He felt a knife press against his throat, another figure kicked Francis and Antonio awake.

The two boys sat up, Antonio staring at the figure holding Arthur in horror.

Arthur’s blood thundered in his ears.

The blade was pressed harsher against his throat.

“Hand over all your shit.” The man spoke, gruff voice in Arthur’s ear.

At this point it was a miracle that Arthur wasn’t having a panic attack.

Francis shakily picked up a bag and gave it to one of the masked figures standing around the trio. Apparently, he did that too slow, as the knife pressed harder against Arthur’s throat, a droplet of blood flowed down.

Arthur let out a noise of panic, causing Antonio to fling the bags to the closest figures. Now all their stuff was gone.

_“Tal vez deberíamos mantener este,”_ the man holding Arthur said, a look of pure horror crossed onto Antonio’s and Francis’s face. Antonio opened his mouth to shout something at the dark figure, only to have a loud bang pierce their eardrums.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason why I didn't translate spanish was because the story is told by Arthur's perspective, meaning he doesn't understand Spanish :)))  
> Hope you enjoyed.


	3. Sarang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't read through this, so if there's any errors please forgive me

**Sarang – the feeling of wanting to be with someone until death**

The knife against Arthur’s throat fell away, and so too did the body pushed holding it. Arthur’s blood was rushing so fast he could barely hear the thud of the man’s body hitting the floor nor did he hear the other thugs turn around and run.

A hand grabbed a hold of Arthur’s hand and pulled him in the direction of what he remembered as the train tracks. Still in a daze from high adrenalin, he looked up and saw it was Antonio. If he wasn’t so shocked about witnessing Gilbert shot a gun in the direction of himself, he would’ve blushed.

His mind was too caught up in seeing the bullet leave Gilbert’s gun, seemingly in the direction that he stood, that he didn’t notice the incoming train, until he was pulled and pushed onto the open wagon.

Coming back to the present, he snapped back to reality and moved aside so Francis and Gilbert could fit alongside him.

After the teens had calmed down, was only when Francis began speaking.

“We killed someone.”

“We didn’t do shit, I killed him, not you guys.” Gilbert retorted.

“Well, we’re all tied in with your own shit, so we basically all killed him.”

“Guys, calm down, first let’s talk about where we’re actually going,” Antonio interrupted.

“We killed someone.”

“Yes, Arthur, we’ve already discussed this.”

“We _killed_ someone.”

Antonio gazed at Arthur worriedly, before reaching out and grabbing Arthur’s hand.

****

For the next few days the group found themselves silent, the occasional discussion would break out, only to be silenced whenever someone mentioned the murder or where they were heading to. Throughout the journey on the train Arthur felt the worried gaze of Antonio’s eyes on his back, but ignored it and continued to get lost in the world of daydreams, pretending what he saw was his imagination and this whole trip was a fever dream.

The peaceful silence was eventually broken when the group found themselves in a foreign city that Francis had smugly informed them was Khust, Ukraine.

“Now what,” Antonio finally said after what felt like years sitting in front of the glowing station. Arthur found that during the weeklong journey on the train Antonio seemed to follow him almost everywhere.

“Let’s go to the Black Sea in Odessa,” Gilbert shoved a map underneath Francis’s nose, causing the elder to let out an almost hiss, “it’s not too far away from here, we should be able to train hop there easily.” Gilbert continued, ignoring the death glare Francis aimed in his direction. As soon as they had gotten off the train the friendly relationship that Gilbert and Francis shared was immediately broken, with Francis arguing with every idea Gilbert suggested and Gilbert throwing small, rude jokes and insults at Francis at any opportunity he got.

“Need I remind you that we may or may not be fugitives at this point?” Francis snarled at him.

“I don’t see you coming up with any other ideas shit for brains,” Gilbert retorted, gripping the map so hard Arthur was afraid it would rip.

“Guys, I personally think that it’s a good idea,” Antonio stood up and declared, “it gives us a goal, si?”

Francis rolled his eyes while Gilbert grinned happily.

“The first train that heads towards Odessa we’ll get on.” Gilbert announced.

Arthur turned his eyes away from the trio that was deep in conversation discussing the trip, a phone booth catching his eyes. It was almost like God was showing Arthur it himself, with it being illuminated underneath a lamppost.

“I’m gonna make a call.” Arthur said, standing up and heading towards the phone booth. He didn’t hear any noise from the trio regarding what he just said, so he turned and walked away, hand in his pocket digging around for loose change.

****

“Hello, this is Allistor Kirkland, how can I help you?” Arthur was taken aback, never had he heard his 23 year old brother, but considering what he has gone through it shouldn’t be a surprise he seems a bit more sensible, plus it had been awhile since Arthur had actually ever talked to him.

“Hello? Is this a prank call.” Arthur reminded himself he was meant to be talking.

“Hey, Allistor,” Arthur gulped, his heart finally had caught up to his brain and was thundering in his ears, “it’s Arthur.”

There was a deafening silence from the other end.

“Fucking Arthur?” His brother screamed. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, where the hell are you?!”

“I, I can’t tell you, sorry.”

Arthur heard Allistor’s groan of frustration.

“Mum’s worried, so are Dylan and Connor.”

“I didn’t mean to worry you guys.’

“The fuck is that meant to mean? You runaway hours after we find out about Peter and you except us not to be fucking _worried_?!” Arthur could hear Allistor’s voice break. “The world doesn’t revolve around you, you can’t just forget about the rest of us who are going through this _with you_ ”

Arthur found his cheeks wet.

“Just come home,” at this point he could also hear Allistor crying. “please.”

Arthur threw the phone back into the receiver and crouched down, sobs cracking through his voice and tears creating rivers down his face. He felt warm arms wrap around his shaking body and allowed himself to finally surrender to the grief Peter’s death settled upon him, sobbing for the first time after Peter’s death.

****

Eventually Arthur had found himself weak at the energy it took up to cry and fell limp in the tanned arms surrounding him. Antonio had said no words, only to mutter things such as ‘I’m here’ and ‘it’s okay’, and the occasionally pet on the head. Now that Arthur had stopped crying the two sat in silence, with Arthur pressed up against Antonio’s chest. He was thankful Antonio had asked no questions.

“I’m sorry about your shirt.” He muttered, pulling away from Antonio. The shirt in question showed clear markings of Arthur’s breakdown with large puddles trapped on it. Antonio chuckled.

“It’s fine.”

Arthur felt too awkward to say anything else so instead he stared at the ground, trying to ignore how pretty Antonio was.

“Where’s Francis and Gilbert?” _Did they see me cry?_

“Before I found you, they went off to get food.” _No, they didn’t._

Arthur nodded, and coughed, clearing his voice.

“Um-“

“I won’t tell them what happened, if that’s what you want.”

Arthur felt himself glancing up into Antonio’s eyes, a chill running down his back.

“Uh, yeah,” e pushed himself to stand up “thanks.”

The pair walked to where Antonio said they would meet the other two, Arthur didn’t say a lot of words, still awkward about what Antonio had to deal with a few minutes ago.

“Thanks.” Arthur mumbled.

“For- oh, yeah,” Antonio sighed “you’re welcome.”

Arthur opened his mouth to say more, only to be interrupted.

“You know, I was actually gonna tell you something else.”

Antonio stopped walking, and Arthur followed suit, stopping in his tracks to properly face the older boy. He seemed more beautiful, the moon had finally peaked out from the clouds and gave Arthur a beautiful show of Antonio’s face, causing Arthur to momentarily forget to breathe.

“And that is?”

Antonio gulped.

“I know we’ve only known each other for about a week, but I,” Antonio, this time, broke the eye contact and stared at the ground.

“I think I-“

An unknow presence must’ve taken over Arthur’s body, because he found himself pressing his mouth on Antonio’s and shutting the taller boy up.

****

“What took you guys so long, got lost?” Gilbert joked, in his hands he held a shopping bag. Arthur didn’t want to know how they managed to smuggle that out.

“Thought you were getting food.” Antonio replied, squeezing Arthur’s hand. The two boys had just come back from a make out session and weren’t ready to part just yet.

“Seriously, what were you guys doing, though?” Gilbert glanced at the couple and finally saw their joined hands.

“Took you long enough to realise, Gilbert” Francis laughed and the bewildered look plastered on Gilbert’s face.

“I didn’t know they were-“

“You wouldn’t know anything unless it hit you in the face, dumbass.”

Arthur ignored Gilbert and Francis’s antic’s an gazed at Antonio. He found the said boy already gazing at him, a smile on his face.

Antonio gave up his jumper for Arthur to use as a pillow, despite Arthur’s comments about how cold it was.

So Arthur laid out on the bundled up jumper and willed himself to sleep, getting pleasantly surprised when he found Antonio embrace Arthur’s body. He glimpsed up and, through the moonlight, saw the most beautiful face he had the luck of witnessing. Antonio smiled and pressed a warm kiss to Arthur’s forehead, laying his head next to Arthur’s and closing his eyes.

And just like that, the thoughts of the blood washed walls of the alley and the dead lifeless eyes of the unnamed man were washed away from his mind, instead his newly found boyfriend filled every inch of it. Even though these two boys had only met days ago, he though to himself that it was the start of a new chapter of his life, the starting of Arthur and Antonio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm beginning to drift from this story, and I have other stories I want to write about, but I really wanna finish this before starting a new story, updates might be slow is all. Hoped you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that was okay. I'm super tired so I haven't gotten the chance to look over it, in the morning I will read through it. I was struck by a wave of inspiration and had to write it.  
> :)  
> I also got tumblr, so if you have any requests you want me to write about either message me on tumblr or just write a comment. (I'm not too sure how to work tumblr, but I'll get there)  
> https://idfk5064things.tumblr.com/


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